Passive Networking doesn't work

In my workshop "Social Media for Business" I'm describing 5 Networking Types (Originally by B. Guldager). These 5 types of people are getting different results depending on the amount of time and energy invested in networking.

Today I want to focus on the first type, The Passive Networker, because there lies a very interesting networking tip in this description.

The Passive Networker is one of those people who doesn't want to spend any time on networking. They are never attending networking drinks or receptions, but also online they only post a very basic profile and don't take any other actions at all.
I'm sure you all know people like this. I call this man "The Guy at the Fitnessclub"

Imagine we are early January and the Christmas Holidays have just past. They are the main reason why you are not feeling in your best shape ever. The feasts and champagne have invaded your body.

Your most important New Year's resolution is to start with Fitness !
You walk into a fitnessclub and throw enough money on the table for a yearly subscription.
Like a maniac you start to fitness, at least 3 times a week. After a few weeks you have a meeting on one of those days. Soon you are dropping down to 2 times a week, once a week, a couple of times a month ... and after a few months we will hardly ever find you at the fitnessclub anymore.
When anyone would say to this person at the end of the year "I'm not feeling too well after all these parties, I'm thinking about joining a fitnessclub", he would probably get this reply :
"I have tried that, it doesn't work !"

Buying a membership card of a fitnessclub doesn't do anything for your health. You have to take action and work out to become results.

Buying a membership card of a businessclub won't do anything for your business. You have to attend the events and get to know people to get some results.

Posting a basic profile on a Social Network won't do anything for your business. You have to get active, get to know people, write and comment on blogs, go to events, ... to get results !

Instream management for your networking group

Don’t you just hate it ?
One of the very first blogs I have ever written was about the feelings I had when I had to attend events where I didn’t know any of the other guests.
When attending receptions and events outside of my usual networking groups, I still spot the same behavior I wrote about many years ago.
People are automatically drawn towards those they already know. Pick any event you want and each and every time you will see this same behavior happening again. People greeting each other and gathering in small groups of 4 to 6 people, neglecting the other guests of the event.

I still think this is an important issue to be addressed by organisers as well as steady members of a networking or business group.
As organisers or members we mustn’t forget that each year you have a natural outstream from your members group. Some people just got bored, others have moved away too far from the location, some people may have even passed away.

If you want your groups and events to stay successful in the future you need to pay enough attention to the instream of new members. In my opinion good instream management doesn’t stop by selling a membership card or a ticket to one of your events. Excellent instream management also means making sure that new members get integrated in the group(s). In the same way a moderator tries to engage conversations online, the hosts of any event should ensure that nobody stays aside during his or her first events.

This is the only way to ensure that new members will also stay for many years, becoming the new steady members of your group.

Adding extra value to a successful concept

As a passionate and proactive networker, I'm always trying to have a good balance in online networking and meeting people face-to-face at networking events. I'm also trying to find a good mix in target groups, which are often to be found in different online communities.

Large corporates are mainly on LinkedIn, small businesses are on Ecademy, production companies seem to like Xing and a broad market to test your new products is of course to be found on Facebook. If your target audience are teenagers, have a look at Netlog.

One of the most established organisations which originated in my country is Managers 4 Managers, organizing offline networking events in several large cities in Europe. I discovered these meetings already in 2005, when I was testing multiple concepts for a chapter in my first book. For several months I was even part of the local team which was running the events in Leuven.

Recently I made a new change in my professional life and put myself on the market as a Public Speaker, Writer, Trainer and Consultant on Social Media and Social Networking.

The team of Managers 4 Managers almost immediately contacted me and asked me to accept the role of M4M International Ambassador, promoting their events and helping them with their online presence on Xing, LinkedIn, Ecademy and Facebook. I also offered them to bring extra value to their events by adding a slight change to their proven meeting concept. Let's take a look at their concept as it was before :

- In the first part of the event a guestspeaker is being interviewed by a professional host. Speakers are successful entrepreneurs, politicians or other high profile people.

- In the second part of the event the attendees are divided into small groups of 8-10 people, with a moderator at each table. All participants have the opportunity to present themselves and their professional activities in a 5 minute timeslot.

This is already a very strong and valuable concept and during the booming years of 2005-2006 this concept attracted hundreds of businessowners to these meetings. Of course it's not possible to have 50% new people present every month and sometimes it happens that the same people are at your table again. This is also excellent because you get to know them even better, but you automatically distract from the original concept.

This is where I wanted to add the slight change. After all, my good friend Jan Vermeiren writes in his books that you should be able to give your 'elevator pitch' in no more than 20 seconds.

To be honest, I couldn't do it myself in 20 seconds, but I can do it in 2,5 to 3 minutes ... which leaves me another 2 free minutes within the M4M concept.

In these 2 minutes we should focus on the 'now' : What are you doing right now ? Which are the projects you are working on right now ? What are you looking for right now ? How can we help you right now ?

When any of these questions can be addressed by the people at your table you will receive tremendous value from this one single session.

Even more, this will give you a totally different experience at each networking event, because people aren't always looking for the same things. A company might be looking for a new salesagent this month ... and next month they are looking for a company to put publicity on the new car of the new salesagent ...

I think this is an excellent example of how a slight change to a concept can add big value, without damaging the original concept.

This is not an earthshaking change to the original concept .. just a little twist ;-)

The new and improved M4M concept was launched at the M4M Beveren networking event in October 2009 and is now introduced to all other chapters of the organisation. If you want to experience this yourself, visit their website and register for one of the next events.